I Love Plant-Geek Gifts!

March 25, 2009

A couple of weeks ago I spoke at the All Texas Garden Show...something I've done every February for a number of years now. As I was walking the hallway, I ran into Paul from Texas Triffid Ranch who was also speaking at the show for the first time (I think...). I was happy to see carnivorous plants on the schedule. Anyhoo...we exchanged "Oh, hey, I know you from Blogland" banter and then he bestowed upon me this lovely little gem. It just popped into bloom today so I thought you'd like to see...Paul...you're going to have to give me the correct species id...THANKS!

Carnivorous


Front Yard Veggie Beds…

March 23, 2009

The newest addition to my ever expanding veggie garden. In addition to the two boxes we added to the back this past weekend, which filled up the remaining sunny real estate, we added three new beds to the front yard. The sun is plentiful up there and it seemed a shame to me there were no tomatoes growing in such a prime spot. Also transplanted a bunch of Iris pallida from the backyard to camouflage the concrete retaining wall on the edge of my yard.  It's obvious I'm not finished planting them yet, but they will contain an assortment of tomatoes, peppers, bush beans and maybe a dwarf bush zucchini. Photos of backyard beds to come...

Frontbeds1

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

March 23, 2009

Ok gardeners and enjoyers of local farmers markets, etc....if you're not paying attention to this now...you'd better. Regulating small local farmers...and potentially down the road backyard food production...out of existance is the last thing this country needs right now. We need to speak up on this one. If you're not familiar with the Act, you should be.

The Bill

Here is a good article from Rod Dreher in the Dallas Morning News:

Rod Dreher: Food safety shouldn't kill farmers markets


Yay for snakes!

March 23, 2009

It's a banner year for snakes in the Halleck garden. As you can see by the blurriness of the photo, it wasn't exactly easy to get a shot of this squirmy little guy, but you get the idea. It is a Texas brown snake. I have a bounty of babies in my garden this year. Just about everywhere I've started to dig around one of two if these little guys has popped out. I was removing a decaying stump from the back fence and fount a nest of them. I'm a reptile/amphibian enthusiast so snakes and the like bring me no end of entertainment. But I do realize there are a lot of you out there that would not be thrilled to find snakes in their yard. Texas brown snakes and rat snakes are non-venomous and they are a great natural pest control. They have small mouths so their prey tends to be small as well..they eat snails and slugs so they are great for gardeners. So your backyard chickens are safe...yay for snakes.

Texas_brown_snake


Tomato ‘Golden Mama’

March 20, 2009

Ok, the yummy orange paste tomato I tested last year for Organic Gardening magazine is available at North Haven Gardens right now, in limited quantities. This is a tasty paste tomato, similar to a Roma, but with lemon yellow flesh and a light sweet flavor. It's heat tolerant, compact with good fruiting. Can't wait to make some golden spagetti sauce this year...

Tomato_golden_mama


Pretty as a peach…

March 15, 2009

The three ornamental peaches I planted last year are all popping. They are each a double flowering variety called 'Peppermint'. Blooms appear in shades of hot pink and white/pink stripes. They are the fascination of my 1 1/2 year old neighbor, Madeline. And the other neighbor, Lonnie...who is not so much 1 1/2 but who nonetheless gets all giggly like a little girl when new things are blooming in my garden. Delights for kids and not so much kids alike! Purrrty.

Peach_peppermint2Peach_peppermint09


Patio update…for Caro

March 15, 2009

Hey Carolyn...I know, I'm way overdue with the finished photos of the patio and walkways. I still have more pots etc. that I want to put out on the patio, but here is the start...

Patio_finished



Fantastic Mustard Green…

March 12, 2009

I grew a wonderful Mustard Green in the garden this past fall through winter and it's still going strong. It's called 'Southern Giant Curled' and you can procure the seed from Botanical Interest. I'd direct seeded it out into the garden and it's been as happy as could be all winter long. But I sort of forgot about harvesting much of it. I mixed some of it into a fresh salad the other day and was reminded about how tasty it is! Sweet tasting leaves followed by just the right amount of spicy mustard flavor. This variety is very slow to bolt and the plants in my garden haven't even thought about blooming yet. It's a pretty plant to boot...

Mustard_Southern_Giant_Curled


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